Since 1996, Lakeside & Polson Physical Therapy has been a PT mainstay in Northwest Montana’s beautiful Flathead Valley. But when Samantha Modderman, PT, and her business partners took over ownership of the two-clinic practice last year, they couldn’t believe how outdated its existing billing and documentation methods were.
Both clinics had been using paper documentation and an outdated, DOS-based billing system. “In looking at some of the existing paper charts on patients, I was amazed at the things that were documented—and even more so at the things that were not documented,” she said. Modderman was equally surprised by the billing system that was in place when she took over. “I didn’t know much about billing at the time, but with the way their billing existed, it seemed like a huge risk of lost income and potentially an even larger risk if an audit were ever to take place.”
Fortunately, Modderman was already familiar with WebPT from previous jobs, so the clinics made the switch the day ownership officially changed hands. As she sifted through the paper records left behind, Modderman knew she’d made the right decision in transitioning her clinics to EMR. Why? First and foremost: compliance. “It really takes the headache and hassle away from me as the owner,” she said. “I don’t have to worry about whether or not my therapists are doing a progress or recertification note every ten visits for Medicare patients, or whether they are documenting direct and indirect minutes on every single Medicare note because WebPT takes care of those issues for me.”
And that, she says, allows her to focus on other areas of her clinics, thus increasing overall business productivity. Plus, in the face of increasingly complex regulations surrounding reimbursements, WebPT’s built-in compliance alerts give Modderman and her colleagues peace of mind when it comes to collecting payment. “With Medicare-mandated programs—such as PQRS and functional limitation reporting—starting to dictate reimbursement and pay, our documentation through WebPT makes me feel very confident in our ability to continue to collect payment for our services.”
Aside from ensuring Medicare compliance, the biggest WebPT benefit that Modderman has seen is time savings. “It is very handy to have the ability to carry forward flowsheet exercises and documentation notes from a patient’s last treatment session—and then make slight changes here and there to reflect the new treatment session—rather than having to rewrite details that have not changed much from the last session.” And although it has been several years since Modderman last documented on paper, she estimates that WebPT, by comparison, cuts documentation time in half.
So, how does Modderman sum up her experience with WebPT in a nutshell? “WebPT is a progressive EMR company that is always informed and always updating their system to accommodate changes in payer requirements for documentation and billing. They help take the stress of making sure documentation is accurate and compliant off of me, so I then have the ability to focus on improving my clinic’s productivity and the quality of services that we provide.”
Thank you, Samantha Modderman, and the rest of the staff at Lakeside & Polson Physical Therapy. We are so grateful to have you as WebPT Members and so happy to know that our services are helping you and your team achieve greatness in therapy practice.
Have a story to share about your experiences with WebPT? Let us know in the comments below.
